The EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said today was an important milestone in EU-New Zealand relations.

She said the negotiations would aim to remove barriers to trade in goods and services, as well as developing trade rules to make trade easier and more sustainable.

"This is about opening up a new chapter, new economic possibilities for our companies, big and small and I think we will try to focus especially on the small and medium sized companies," Ms Malmström said.

Protectionist attitudes towards agriculture and EU rules allowing some traditional foods or wine to be produced only in certain areas - will be just some of the challenges in getting the deal over the line.

Trade Minister David Parker said it was hoped that the Free Trade Agreement could be completed within a couple of years

He said some of the sticking points in the deal were likely to be around geographical indicators, and the EU Trade Commissioner had asked for work on those to start early so that it did not delay the deal.

"That demonstrates a willingness on the European side of the negotiation which we share in New Zealand, to bring this to a conclusion as soon as we can, and we are hopeful that we can wrap it up on our side within a couple of years, but only time will tell," Mr Parker said.

The deal would not include Investor State Dispute Settlement clauses that have been controversial in other agreements, such as the CPTPP.

Former trade negotiator Charles Finny said the volatility went further than just the US and China.

"The steel and aluminium tariffs that are now in place and impacting on New Zealand, impacting on EU, Japan, as well as China, Canada and Mexico," Mr Finny said.

"Most immediately, there is this $50 billion tariff bill being put on Chinese exports and China is retaliating, and we have to watch that very closely - it could get bigger."